Bensted - Kent
"...The Crooked Billet went out of legitimate business about 1830 and of illegitimate business some time, no doubt, before that. It was converted into two cottages.12 Later, the cottages were demolished and replaced by a new farmhouse. That was probably done by or for Owen Parsons, a local farmer who had been around since at least 1817, at which time he was tenant of Mr and Mrs Tasker’s land to the south of Billet Hill. Parsons may have been a man of some affluence; at any rate, he had married well, his wife, Mary Ann Bensted, being a daughter of William and Elizabeth Bensted of Hartley Court. The Bensteds had come to Hartley during the last decade of the eighteenth century and were long to remain major farmers of that parish..." ''http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/01/ANR/01/13/186.htm Link ''"...seems already to have been both owner and occupier, G. Mandy & Son, auctioneers and estate agents of Farningham, were offering for sale by auction at the Portobello Inn, Kingsdown, ‘The Crooked Billet Farm’, comprising the newly erected dwelling-house, four cottages and twenty-three acres of land.13 Whether or not the auction found a purchaser, Parsons was still in occupation and farming the land two years later. He died during the following decade and his wife removed to Hartley Cottage, now called Hartley House, where her mother had gone to live when William Bensted died in 1836. Mary Parsons lived there many years..." http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/01/ANR/01/13/187.htm Link 109. '''HEADSTONE IN MEMORY OF WILLIAM '''BENSTED '''WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE APRIL 4th 1791 AGED 63 YEARS [ ELIZABETH] WIFE OF THE ABOVE WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE JAN 12th 1815 AGED 77 YEARS LEFT ISSUE 2 SONS & 3 DAUGHTERS WILLIAM, JOSEPH, MARY, ELIZABETH & MARTHA ALSO 3 SONS & 2 DAUGHTERS OF JOSEPH AND ELIZABETH BENSTED ELIZABETH, THOMAS, SAMUEL THOMAS AND SARAH WHO DIED IN THEIR INFANCY ALSO EMMA DAUGHTER OF WILL ? & ELIZABETH BENSTED DIED MARCH [ 1846] 16 [YEARS ? ''110. ...TO TRUSTEES, £1,200 TO BE INVESTED IN GOVERNMENT STOCK AND THE DIVIDENDS PAID TO DAUGHTER, ELIZA '''BENSTED WIFE OF WILLIAM BENSTED, OF MAIDSTONE, HOYMAN FOR HER LIFETIME, AFTER HER DEATH, THEN TO HER CHILDREN TOWARDS THEIR MAINTENANCE AND EDUCATION UNTIL THEY ARE 21 AND THEN THE CAPITAL TO BE SHARED EQUALLY BETWEEN THEM. IF ELIZA DIES WITH NO SURVIVING CHILDREN THE £1,200 TO GO INTO HIS PERSONAL ESTATE AND SHARED EQUALLY BETWEEN HIS CHILDREN. HE RELEASES ALL HIS CHILDREN AND HUSBANDS OF HIS DAUGHTERS FROM ALL DEBTS OWED TO HIM...'' Maidstone All Saints Monumental inscriptions http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Libr/MIs/MAIASY/01.htm Link 70. John BENSTED of this parish, died 19 December 1815 aged 76. Sarah his wife died 20 March 1814 aged 83 Warehorne Monumental Inscriptions https://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Libr/MIs/MIsWarehorne/01.htm Link 11. Head '''Amelia daughter of William and Mary BENSTED died 3 July 1858 in her 27th year ''12. Head Mr William BENSTED of this Parish died 30 March 1836 aged 74. Mrs Elizabeth Bensted his wife died 11 September 1845 aged 85. Mr William Bensted son of the above died 19 April 1867 aged 79. Mary wife of the above died 15 December 1870 in her 76th year'' Hartley Monumental Inscriptions https://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Libr/MIs/MIsHartley/MIsHartley.htm Link 8. James BENSTED of this parish, 3rd January 1880 aged 79. Jane his wife,15th September 1846 aged 39. Ann their daughter, 27th January 1832 aged 3: Henry their son, 26th February 1837 aged one month : Elizabeth their daughter: 15th April 1847 aged 3. Eliza their daughter: 12th June 1856 aged 24 years Stalisfield Monumental Inscriptions http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Libr/MIs/MIsStalisfield/MIsStalisfield.htm Link ''15. 'HEADSTONE SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF JOSEPH '''BENSTED '''OF THIS PARISH WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE 30th DECEMBER 1830 AGED [ ] YEARS ALSO OF HENRY FILEY? '''SMITH '''WHO DIED AT LOOSE THE 12th OF JULY 1837? AGED 5? MONTHS 1826 PIGOT DIRECTORY, WILLIAM AND JOSEPH BENSTED, WHARFINGERS AND WATER CONVEYANCERS. Methodist Church, Union Street, Maidstone Monumental Inscriptions http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Libr/MIs/MAIMC/01.htm Link Bensted Wills http://www.hartley-kent.org.uk/history/wills/bensted.htm Link